- stereoscopic 3D
- science fiction
and of course
- Australia
:-)
Below you'll find a great article from Film Ink. But before you read it, check this short film (you will need red-cyan 3D glasses)
S21-3D from S21film3D on Vimeo.
New Directions
We speak to local producer Laura Sivis about a 3D film to be shot in Australia next year.
Nearly three years ago, French filmmaker Olivier Parthonnaud was one of the few to believe in Stereoscopic 3D (S3D) as a viable release format. While James Cameron worked on Avatar in New Zealand, Parthonnaud began moving forward in France with Australian Producer Laura Sivis, and a small but experienced Stereoscopic 3D team.
Parthonnaud wanted to prove that it was technically possible to make a sci-fi live action film in S3D. Sivis says investors were initially reluctant to back the technology because of the cost and the fact that many saw it as a passing fad. "People didn't wish to invest the manpower or resources required to get up to speed," she recalls. "Even those who acknowledged that James Cameron would make a groundbreaking film assumed Avatar would be an event film which would be limited to a few IMAX screens, not an industry changer that would permeate into mainstream expectations."
Parthonnaud and Sivis' currently untitled sci-fi film in the making is an ambitious project, but an exciting one. The story revolves around a lunar prisoner who escapes to earth via a holo-transport link. The lunar station commander finds himself trying to stop a killer hologram that can hold a weapon, but against whom weapons are completely useless. However, the commander then discovers this dangerous prisoner is the creator of the holo-transport link, and must be kept alive at all costs.
As a way of researching and developing the film, Parthonnaud and his team selected parts of the feature that they knew would constitute technical challenges in 3D and began exploring how these could work. Those pieces were rescripted and from them Parthonnaud wove a sci-fi short film titled S21-3D, which won the 2009 Australian SMPTE Dimensionale 3D Film Festival and was released recently in France.
Compiling the short - which tests and incorporates 3D lunar landscapes and vehicles, futuristic city skyscrapers, fight sequences and hologram characters - was an invaluable experience. "Prior to doing the short, we were heading down a different path creatively, but this new path is infinitely more spectacular," Sivis says. "That's very much thanks to our R&D team who used their collective experience and hunger to push the boundaries of what can be done."
Shooting the feature length version of the film is scheduled to begin in Australia in the first half of next year and Parthonnaud and Sivis have already begun assembling an award winning creative and technical team which they hope will feature a mix of local and international talent. "For key cast we are speaking to successful Aussies who are currently based overseas who will happily jump on the next plane back once we set a start date. There will also be a couple of international cast too."
While the film is to be shot in Australia, Sivis acknowledges some of the restrictions in casting local actors. "Packaging films has become much tougher since the world financial crisis. Sales agents and distributors want to see at least four to five internationally known actors even in the smaller films," she explains. "It's understandable that they are trying to mitigate their risk. But it has ramifications. A greater slice of the budget needs to be allocated to cast, sometimes as much as 30-50% of a budget and more for smaller films."
Sivis says our talented crews were an incentive for shooting the film in Australia and she hopes that the film may signal a shift in support of science fiction. "Australian crews are simply really really talented with sci-fi films. Look at The Matrix Trilogy, Star Wars 2&3, Red Planet, Farscape, and Pitch Black," Sivis enthuses. "The irony and the tragedy is that we never make any of our own. It's historically been outside the Australian government funding bodies' brief to make or support Hollywood style blockbuster stories, let alone sci-fi. I for one am hoping that we can swing that around."
